"Man how do you suck this badly?" she asked forlornly.
Ugg, I can't even say anything. We'd been at it for over five hours and I still cannot find where my damn Spiritual Power pool is. About three hours in we got in a big argument where she blamed me calling me an idiot and I called her an bitch for blaming the student when the teacher sucked. She wasn't a good teacher for this kind of thing, thats for sure. I'ts kind of obvious now that this would be something she isn't good at, I mean i'v been calling her Cute-Army-Girl all this time, not Cute-Magic-Girl. I must have hit a cord because she got really upset and I spent the next twenty minutes being silly and trying to cheer her up. At least we are getting along better. Speaking of Cute-Army-Girl That reminds me.
"Hey, I know this is probably a bit late, but umm, Whats your name?" She blinked.
"Well you haven't given me one yet."
That one threw me off a bit. "What do you mean?"
"Well when an Overlord spawns someone anew, they give them a name because newly made units don't have any hard-coded memories, just instincts on how to perform their Classification. So the first thing you get when you're, well born I guess, is a name." I nodded "So an overlords job is to Name people?"
She nodded, but looked thoughtful and added. "Sort of, actually they only name units they make. Some units are spawned naturally. Across the Netherworld only about one in a thousand are made by Overlords, the rest are born from the area they live in." I had to ask "Wait so people just..Pop out of the ground or something?" That was weird, and to my surprise she nodded to my assessment. "Yea, basically, Though its more accurate to say that the Mana in the area ends up too concentrated and whatever soul is nearest ends up in a body. In that case the unit names themselves." Something about that explanation bothered me, but something else caught my attention.
"Wait what do you mean soul?" I got a look that said she was wondering if I was messing with her but explained anyways.
"Here in the netherworld everyone is more or less waiting to receive a true-reincarnation. So we all are just cooling our heels and trying to live as best we can until we get our shot."
I had to ask "Wait aren't we supposed to to go eternal paradise or eternal suffering when we die" I distinctly recall that descriptor of the afterlife, it was fairly even across the board. To my surprise she snorted
"Sure, if you've been very good or very bad. But what do you do with the people who where borderline? Or who did a lot of bad things but weren't completely at fault. Or the people who where horrible people but did good things because society expected it of them. They all end up in here. The people who where distinctly more good end up in a Celestial Netherworld with all the other more good people.
The rest end up in regular ones, usually made by an overlord. I've got a theory I've been running with that Overlords act as beacons for certain types of people. Completely evil irredeemable people usually end up near the completely evil overlords. It doesn't help that by netherworld standards, trying to give off the appearance of being evil is the social norm."
"Unfortunately we are our own tormentors for whatever bad things we may of done in life, and until you undergo enough hardship. If you reincarnate enough you eventually can get another shot at life. So in a round about way the worst in the Netherworld are actually doing the most to facilitate people into their next life."
Okay that niggling feeling in the back of my brain was really itching now, but I my gut told me I would be happier ignoring it for as long as possible. So I did.
"Okay that messed up, but I think I get the gist of it. Could you explain the Reincarnation thing though?" She talked about it like there where multiple types.
"Well first off there are two different types of reincarnation. True-reincarnation is the ultimate goal of many and deathly avoided by some. True-reincarnation is when you get another shot at life. Some people avoid it because while in the Netherworld you are essentially immortal and can do whatever you want. So many would rather just go with that instead of risking eternal suffering.
"The other type of Reincarnation is a bit different, It happens when you die in the netherworld but haven't earned your true-reincarnation yet. It's what essentially happened to me. I died in the service of my last overlord. My soul was released back into the netherworld. You created me a new body. The only reason I likely remember details is because you screwed up." She paused "Though now that I think about it, It might be because the way you worded the wish. Same results either way."
I didn't really say anything as I'm not sure how to follow that one. Anyways It was a lot to take in.
"Man you seem to know a lot of this stuff" That earned me a tiny blush and a small smile.
"Yea, I'm... I was, the person in charge of the fighting forces for my last overlord, He let me take care most of the business end while he just screwed around." She added with some disdain.
"Still I ended up learning a lot, and ended up earning a lot of respect, even from neighboring Overlords." She was clearly proud of herself, she must have really kicked some ass.
"Hnn, he does that mean your like a bad ass fighter or something" To my surprise she sighed.
"Unfortunately no. Overlords have the ability to intentionally reincarnate their underlings, and because being bound to your overlord lets you keep most of your skills, but you add onto the old you had. You always loose a bit, The more the overlord wants you to keep, the more Mana it takes, but you also get a very nice boost in ability as well as you become less just a new person and more the same person with new stuff added. Simply put, I remember winning some really tough fights, but I don't recall the details on how I did it."
Some part of my brain told me that made sense, though I wasn't sure I agreed.
"You only keep your skill during reincarnation when an overlord chooses to reincarnates someone already bound to them. Unfortunately the skill I had gained isn't a core part of who I am, so no carry over. I think I might of carried over some of the things I learned about commanding a force, but that would just be because I grew into my role. And in case your wondering, I don't know why the system works like it does, I just know it works." We sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, her reminiscing and me going over my impromptu lesson on how my new 'home' works.
"Hey what was your name before?" I asked
"Before?" she looked confused so I elaborated.
"In your last life, what was your name? Did you like it?" I asked
"It was Mya, and yes." she said quietly. [AN: Pronounced, my-uh.]
"Eer well, if you don't mind then , can I call you that?"
I got my first full genuine smile. 'YAY!' Call me an idiot but I've always enjoyed making other people smile, if you accomplished nothing but making a few people happy on a given day. You still had a pretty alright day.
"I'd like that, thank you." I smiled back at her.
However she stood up and stretched. "However, now that we've had our little break, you need to get back to learning how to access your Spiritual Power."
I let out a sigh, 'Damn it Mya, just when I was starting to warm up to you...'